Virgin Atlantic Airlines was founded in 1984 and commenced operations on 22 June 1984. It is a British Airline which has its head office in Crawley. It was established as British Atlantic Airways in 1984 and was initially planned by i8ts co-founders Alan Hellary and Randolph Fields for flying between London and the Falkland Islands.

After changing the name of the airline to Virgin Atlantic Airways, Fields sold his share after disagreements with Richard Branson. On 22 June 1984, the maiden flight from Gatwick International Airport to Newark Airport took place. This airline company, along with Virgin Holidays, is controlled by the holding company Virgin Atlantic limited. It is 50% owned by the Virgin Group and 49% by Delta Air lines.

Virgin Atlantic International Limited and Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited hold the Civil Aviation Authority. Virgin Atlantic Airlines uses a mixed fleet of Boeing and Airbus. It operates to designations in North America, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean, from the central hub at London Heathrow and the secondary hub at Manchester. This airline also operates a seasonal service from Edinburgh, consisting of three cabins: Economy, Premium and Upper class.

The airline company also announced its intention to form a joint venture with Air-France KLM in July 2017. However, it announced in December 2019 that joint venture would not include a stake in company.

On May 2020, it was announced that due to COVID-19 pandemic, the airline would lay off 3000 staff, reduce the fleet size to 35 by the summer of 2002 and retire the Boeing 747-400s. It also declared that it would not resume operations from Gatwick following the pandemic.

The airline company filed for the Chapter 15 Bankruptcy protection in New York on 4th August 2020.

History

The airline company originates in a joint endeavour by the Randolph Fields, an American-born lawyer, and Alan Hellary, a former chief pilot for the British Private Airline Laker Airways. Laker Airways collapsed in 1982, and Hellary and Field decided to establish a new company named British Atlantic Airways. Fields and Hellary also made conscious efforts to secure a license to operate a route between Gatwick Airport, London and JFK Airport, New York.

Formative years

Virgin Atlantic operated its inaugural scheduled service between Gatwick and Newark by making use of leased Boeing 747-200 on 22 June 1984. Richard Branson declared an approach which stated that his approach to business was to either succeed within the first year of exiting the market, and this ethos included a one-year limit being expressed upon everything associated with the starting of operations. The airline company became profitable within the first 12 months, and it was also aided by the big sister company Virgin record's ability to finance lease of a secondhand Boeing 747.

The airline also launched a service between Gatwick Airport and Maastricht Aachen Airport in November 1984. The airline also began another Boeing 747 to its fleet and it started a scheduled route from Gatwick to Miami in 1986 the aircraft was quickly acquired, and new routes were also launched from Gatwick, such as New York JFK In 1988 and Tokyo Narita in 1989. Other routes launched are LA in 1990, Orlando in 1992 and Boston in 1991.

The airline company also launched a service between Luton and Dublin however, this route was withdrawn around 1990.

Competition

The airline was given permission to operate from Heathrow following abolition of the London Air Traffic Distribution rules in 1991. The Civil Aviation Authority transferred two pairs of unused landing slots which that British Airways held at Tokyo’s Narita Airport to the Virgin Atlantic. This also allowed it to increase the frequency between Heathrow and Tokyo from around four to six weekly round trips.